Last fall, the San Francisco Opera presented new productions of two of the operatic art form's greatest works. Each is a rollicking comedy in which young love triumphs over extremely vain and selfish elders who claim to have the ingenue's best interest at heart.

Around five years ago, opera tenor Greg Fedderly made the decision to remove himself from the Romantic Lead category. Years of doing that thing which most romantic leading tenor roles are all about -- can make a guy think.